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Can you feel the excitement in the air? Christmas carols are being sung, snow is starting to fall, and the Buckeyes are playing a meaningful game in the college football postseason. It could only mean we’re in December — a month that could be a monster for the Ohio sports betting industry.
A quick look at the November numbers that were just reported by The Ohio Casino Control Commission shows that December could be a “blowoff top” for the state’s sports gambling industry. That’s because of the Buckeyes big game and the latest betting trends. Let’s dive into all of it in the article.
October Was Almost A Record Month In Ohio
In early December, the commission released data for October — it always operates with a one-month lag for those wondering. The number that stood out was $902.9 million in wagers placed. That’s second to only January 2023 when the state collected $1.1 billion off betting.
Ironically enough, January 2024 was the year that legalized sports betting became a thing in the state. However, that figure was also propped up by lucrative promotions. See, all the best sportsbooks handed out huge bonuses to new bettors — bonuses they spent right back and contributed to the $1.1 billion figure.
So if you take those bonuses out of the equation, October 2024 might’ve been the biggest sports betting month in state history. The commission doesn’t report what money wagered was promotional or not but it’s a strong hunch. Hunch because October was the first full month of the NFL season (it was a slightly delayed start in September).
For comparison sake, this October was up 20.8 percent from the same point in last season. That’s not a small increase. Not only that, it likely could’ve been higher. That’s because Ohio had a 9 percent hold during the month. This is about three points down from September. Then again, the national average is closer to 8 percent so maybe September was just an anomaly all around and October was a “regression to the mean” per se.
How Much Does The State Actually Keep?
Many folks read these articles and think to themselves the state made $902.9 million off betting in the month. That couldn’t be any further from the truth. That number measures only the betting handle — as in the bets placed. Remember, bettors win too and the state also has to share profits with operators, of which there are more than a dozen in Ohio.
Given the hold percentage of 8, you get revenue of $81.5 million. The majority of that is kept by mobile betting apps (more on this shortly). With a tax rate of 20 percent flat, the state kept $16.3 million to themselves.
Ohio’s tax keep this year is now a staggering $146 million. This is already more than all of 2023 when it did $133 for the year. Mind you, Ohio still hasn’t counted the numbers for November and December. But you can do the table math and guess Ohio is going to make $175 to $185 million off betting in 2024.
Ohio’s tax rate was originally 10 percent so that does explain some of the year-over-year growth in taxes. But here’s something interesting, when it proposed the 20-percent change (that did pass), the state estimated taxes would be between $100 million to $135 million on the year. They sold themselves short obviously.
FanDuel Beats Out DraftKings Barely
The commission also breaks down the gambling split between online apps. It’s a connective market but the usual two are ahead of the rest — DraftKings and FanDuel.
FanDuel won the month of October with a handle of $307.2 million — down about $1.5 million from September though. Revenue came in at $34.5 million, which again, was $3 million less than the previous month. But FanDuel did net an 11.2% hold, a staggering number compared to the 8 percent average. This marks the 11 straight month that FanDuel has had a double-digit win rate in Ohio.
DraftKings was right on FanDuel’s tail with a $298 million handle. On the year now, DraftKings has surpassed $2 billion wagered in the state and is nearing $5 billion in all-time bets.
Bet365 secured third place with $72.2 million, improving from September’s $68 million handle. BetMGM followed in fourth with $59.5 million, and Fanatics Sportsbook rounded out the top five with $41.7 million.
Outside of the top five, Caesars narrowly edged out ESPN Bet by $700,000 in handle and $400,000 in revenue. Meanwhile, Hard Rock Bet and Prime Sports both reported handles exceeding $10 million.
All Eyes On The Buckeyes
Despite losing at the end of the season to Michigan, Ohio State finds themselves in the College Football Playoff now that it’s 12 teams. They are pitted against Tennessee, a game that’ll be played on December 20. As it stands, the best offshore betting sites have the Buckeyes as 7-point favorites.
This is going to be a monster day for Ohio sportsbooks, and that’ll eventually be recorded in the December data. We wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if December ends up setting new records stateside — that’s how much this game will mean in the end.
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